


They Called Him Sobbing Souji Seta

by scatter



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Comfort, Community: badbadbathhouse, Crying, Embarrassment, Gen, Subtext
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-03
Updated: 2011-05-03
Packaged: 2017-10-18 21:56:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/193719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scatter/pseuds/scatter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Souji cries over everything, and it's Yosuke's job to calm him down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	They Called Him Sobbing Souji Seta

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt at the Persona 4 Kink Meme: _Back in elementary school I knew a boy who would cry at fucking everything. Lost his pencil? Tears. Cafeteria out of chocolate milk? Tears. This would have been acceptable little kid behavior had we not been 11 years old. I, being a sadistic kid, thought it was hilarious._
> 
> _So please, anons, give me a fill wherein Souji just cries all the time. At everything. How do his friends react? Does he even have any friends or has his reputation as Souji-Sobbing-Seta forever doomed his social life? Make me laugh, anons. Make me laugh at Souji's misfortune._

Yosuke's first impression of Souji had been pretty good. After all, the guy had helped him out of a trashcan without even teasing him about it and then came the whole helping him accept the Shadow that tried to kill both of them thing, which Souji didn't even hold against him. Yosuke knew right then that if he was ever going to have a close friend in Inaba, it was going to be Souji Seta.

It wasn't until a few days later that he discovered Souji's odd habit. Probably a good thing; if that had been Yosuke's first impression, he might not have liked his partner as much as he did. Now, he was more or less used to it, but it made getting new members on the Investigation Team pretty awkward because telling them about Souji's habit didn't come close to letting them see it.

They were gathered at the food court with their newest member Rise – _Risette_ , man; Yosuke still couldn't get over that fact – Teddie working at another part of the store, and Souji off getting drinks. They tried to avoid talk about the investigation, focusing instead on the great whether and making small talk about nothing important and the day was going pretty good so far. Yosuke should have known it was too good to be true.

He knew Souji was coming up behind him without looking. Rise's smile got brighter the moment she spotted him and for the fifth time that day alone Yosuke wondered if Souji knew how lucky he was and why he wasn't responding to her signals. One grin his way and Yosuke would have been all over her and doing some of the freaky stuff he'd imagined when he only knew her as an idol (things that made knowing her as a person pretty odd).

Souji handed him a drink and Yosuke thanked him even before looking at the name of it. When he did, he made a disappointed noise and set it down without opening it.

"Something wrong?" Chie asked carefully. There was a distinctive _say no, you idiot_ aspect to her voice – Chie being acquainted with Souji's problem as well – that completely went over his head as he pondered whether he should get rid of the Risette memorabilia he had stored under his bed.

"This is the wrong kind." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he snapped back to attention and wished he could take them back. "I mean, no, this is great, it's fine—!"

Too late. Souji had heard him and froze, one hand on the back of his chair and his own drink forgotten. "Oh?" His eyes widened dangerously. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine!" Chie said quickly. "Yosuke can just drink that, he's just messing around, _drink it, Yosuke_."

"But I got the wrong kind and he was really looking forward to the Dr. Pepper NEO." Shit, Souji's eyes were watering and his bottom lip was shaking. Yosuke had to figure a way out of this before the water works started.

"Souji, I swear to you, this is okay." He popped the can open and smiled, but Souji wasn't having any of it.

"I was just trying to help." Souji sat heavily in his chair – next to Yosuke, of course; he always sat next to Yosuke, which made moments like this kind of a pain – hid his face in his hands, and starting sobbing.

Yosuke slammed his drink on the table and huffed. Ah, dammit.

Rise's expression of adoration, which had steadily been sliding into confusion, became one of outright bafflement. "Senpai, are you okay?"

"He's fine," Yosuke grumbled, reaching over to rub Souji's back. Slow, soothing circles and don’t stop to think about how odd this must look to the people at the next table over or he'd stop and Souji would keep going.

"It was just a drink, Senpai," Kanji said, looking about as uncomfortable as Yosuke felt. He'd seen this display a few times but that didn't make it any easier to get used to.

"It was the wrong one!" Souji's muffled voice sounded devastated, like he'd given Yosuke the wrong blood transfusion.

"It's fine," Yosuke repeated, trying to sound calming and not exasperated. If he was lucky, this would be a quick crying fit. Across the table, Yukiko snorted and he glared at her. If she fell into one of her laughing fits, Souji could just get worse and she wouldn't be the one to deal with it.

Thankfully, Chie kicked her under the table.

"You know, Senpai," Rise said, staring the tabletop, "there are a lot of people staring. You should probably calm down."

"And now I'm embarrassing you guys!" Souji cried harder, shoulders shaking.

Yosuke pulled Souji to his feet and frowned over his head when his first action was to turn around and bury his face in Yosuke's neck. He bit his tongue and patted Souji on the back; scolding him wouldn't work. When he got like this, Yosuke had to use kid gloves on him. "Come on, partner, let's get you cleaned up in the bathroom."

Souji stuck to him like glue on the walk there but Yosuke was used to it. He wasn't sure when he'd become Souji's handler, but he guessed it came with the best friend territory.

Once inside, Souji leaned over a sink and cried into the basin. Yosuke waved the only other person there away when he gave them a concerned look and locked the door when he left. Having other people around when Souji was like this, strangers especially, never helped. How Souji could get this way almost every day and somehow become a confident, Shadow killing machine in the TV world, Yosuke had no idea. It was like he carried his Shadow around all the time and his Shadow was a sobbing, emotional wreck who liked to cling to Yosuke.

He leaned against the wall and rubbed Souji's back.

"There, there. Come on, partner, let it all out, it's okay."

"I'm sorry," Souji managed between sniffles. "I wanted to do something nice for you."

"You did," Yosuke said. "I like that drink too, and anyway it's the thought that counts. I'm glad you were thinking of me."

Souji turned red eyes on him, looking almost painfully hopeful. Sometimes, Yosuke was glad Souji only had a few friends outside of their group; there were too many people who'd been willing to take advantage of his vulnerability in this state. "You're not just saying that, are you?"

"Of course not." He balled up a tissue and wiped the tears off of his face before handing him a clean one. "Wipe your nose, okay? I can't do that for you."

"Sorry." Souji did as he was told and splashed water on his face. He didn't seem to be in a hurry to go back out and Yosuke let him regain his composure without complaining, hoping Chie would explain everything to Rise and that Teddie wouldn't wander over and find out. He'd start comforting Souji again and that would embarrass him and the whole thing might start over.

It wasn't like this – Souji crying at the most mundane things – was unavoidable; it was that the only other solution besides letting him have his time and comforting him made Yosuke feel like an ass. Specifically, he had to catch Souji early in the morning and make him cry. If he managed to get him sobbing and heaving for breath then he'd be fine the rest of the day, but doing it made Yosuke feel awful. He had to tease Souji mercilessly and do things like hide his school supplies until he panicked over the idea of being late, and really Yosuke preferred this option, though sometimes the timing was super inconvenient (like that one time he missed an answer in class).

Souji shuffled over for a hug. Yosuke grumbled but only a little so he wouldn't set Souji off again and wrapped his arms around him. Souji gripped his coat pitifully and rested his damp cheek on him.

"You okay now? Feel better?"

"Yeah." Souji wiped his eyes. "Sorry."

"It's fine. Remember, though, I've already told you stuff like this doesn't bother me so don’t let it get to you either, okay?"

"I'll try."

Yosuke supposed that was the best response he'd get, the same one Souji always gave it. To be fair, though, Souji did seem like he was trying sometimes. Maybe one day he'd ask Souji what emotional trauma he was carrying around or get Kanji to toughen him up. Now, though, he let Souji lean on him for a minute longer until it became clear Souji was more than content to stay where he was and he was going to have to be the one to get them moving again.

"Alright, let's go." He untangled himself a little too roughly from Souji, who went pink. Yosuke hoped he was cried out for the day.

There was a man waiting outside the bathroom door and he gave them an odd look when they came out – Yosuke realizing too late that Souji's hair was mussed up and his own coat crooked – that Souji didn't seem to notice. Yosuke fixed his coat and spun Souji around to smooth his hair down before they joined their friends.

"Better?" Yukiko asked, looking abashed about her earlier amusement.

Souji nodded and snuck a glance at Yosuke's drink. Yosuke took a deep gulp, not caring that it wasn't the kind he'd had his heart set on. He'd down the whole thing in one breath if it meant keeping Souji stable.

"Senpai—" Rise paused and looked at Chie. Yosuke wondered if she'd gotten kicked while he was away. She changed what she was going to say and smiled. "What are your plans for this weekend?"

Luckily, nothing else set Souji off that day or the next. It was two days later before Souji broke down at lunch over a misplaced chopstick and Yosuke, letting Souji cry into his jacket, reminded himself that Souji accepted all of his flaws. The least he could do was return the favor.


End file.
